Eenie Meenie Miney Mo: Origins and History of the Counting Rhyme
Most English-speaking children learn "eenie meenie miney mo" before they can read. It decides who is "it" in tag, who goes first, and which sweet to take from the bag. Behind the nonsense words is a long and partly uncomfortable history, along with a surprising fact: the rhyme is not random at all.
The rhyme today
The common modern version goes:
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
Spellings vary (eenie, eeny, meenie, miney, mo, moe), and many groups add extra lines, such as "my mother told me to pick the very best one," to stretch the count. The rhyme belongs to a wider group that folklorists call counting-out rhymes: a chant where one word or beat lands on each person in turn, and whoever gets the last word is chosen or eliminated.
How counting-out works
One child, the counter, points around the circle in time with the words, often including themselves. Each stressed beat moves the finger to the next person. When the rhyme ends, the person pointed at is either "it" or out of the round. In elimination games the rhyme is repeated until only one player is left.
Counting-out solves a real problem for children: it gives a choice that everyone accepts as fair, without an adult stepping in. The ritual matters as much as the result. Because everyone hears the words and watches the finger, it feels open and neutral.
Eenie meenie is only one of many such rhymes. English-speaking children also use chants such as "one potato, two potato," where players hold out their fists and the counter taps each one in turn. When Henry Carrington Bolton collected counting-out rhymes in the 1880s, he gathered examples from many countries and languages and concluded that the habit was found among children almost everywhere. The words change from place to place, but the method, one beat per person and the last beat decides, stays remarkably consistent.
Why it is not really random
A counting-out rhyme is a fixed sequence. If the rhyme has a set number of beats and you know where the counter starts, the result is decided before anyone speaks. With four players and a rhyme of sixteen beats, for example, the last beat always lands on the player just before the starting point when counting clockwise.
Children work this out quickly. A counter who wants a particular result can start at a different person, add an extra line, or stretch a word across two beats. That is why playground arguments about "doing it again" are so common, and why the rhyme is better for low-stakes choices than for anything that has to be truly fair.
The earliest records
Nobody knows who first said "eenie meenie." What can be traced is when versions started appearing in print.
- Iona and Peter Opie, the leading 20th-century scholars of children's folklore, recorded a similar rhyme beginning "Hana, man" that children in New York were reciting around 1815.
- In 1855 the British journal Notes and Queries printed an American version beginning "Eeny, meeny, moany, mite."
- In 1882 Fred Jago's glossary of the Cornish dialect recorded a Cornish version beginning "Ena, mena, mona, mite."
- In 1888 the American chemist and folklorist Henry Carrington Bolton published The Counting-Out Rhymes of Children. He described "eeny, meeny, miny, mo" as the favourite counting-out rhyme among American children and listed reports from many states.
So by the late 19th century the rhyme was well established on both sides of the Atlantic, in many local variations. Because it passed from child to child by word of mouth, there was never one fixed text.
Where did it come from?
Several theories exist, and none is proven.
- Old counting words. The opening sounds resemble numbers in old British counting systems, such as the shepherds' count "yan, tan, tethera" in northern England. The Opies thought the rhyme might descend from counting of this kind.
- Divination by lots. Bolton argued that counting-out games in general came from old practices of choosing by lot. He admitted in the same book that this was partly speculation.
- European parallels. Similar nonsense rhymes exist in other languages, including German and Dutch, which suggests a shared tradition of children's counting chants rather than one single source.
You will often see claims that the rhyme was used by druids or in Celtic or Saxon rituals to choose sacrifices. There is no documentary evidence for any of this. The most that can be said is that the sounds may echo old counting words, and that the earliest firm records come from the 19th century.
The racist version
For much of its history, a common American version used a racial slur against Black people in the second line where "tiger" now appears. Bolton's 1888 collection prints the rhyme in that form, and Dictionary.com notes that this version was widely used until around the 1950s. The Opies found that the slur was not part of earlier English tradition, and that the American version spread in Britain in the 20th century.
From around the middle of the 20th century, child-friendly substitutes such as "tiger" became the norm, and "catch a tiger by the toe" is now the standard version taught to children. The older wording still causes controversy when it resurfaces, which is a good reason to stick with the modern rhyme.
Fairer ways to pick someone
For a quick game of tag, eenie meenie is fine. When the choice actually matters, such as who presents first in class or who wins a prize, it helps to use a method the counter cannot steer.
- Use a random tool. Our random name picker spins a wheel of names and lands on one at random, with no counter involved.
- Draw names from a hat, shuffled well and drawn without looking.
- If you do use a rhyme, let someone other than the counter choose where to start.
Teachers who want a fair way to call on students will find more ideas in our guide on how to pick a random student.
Sources
- Bolton, H. C. (1888). The Counting-Out Rhymes of Children: Their Antiquity, Origin, and Wide Distribution. London: Elliot Stock. archive.org
- Opie, I. and Opie, P. (1951). The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford University Press (as summarised in the Wikipedia article below).
- Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
- Martin, G. Eeny, meeny, miny, mo: meaning and origin. The Phrase Finder. phrases.org.uk
- The Racist History of "Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe". Dictionary.com (2018). dictionary.com
FAQ
How old is eenie meenie miney mo?
Similar rhymes were recorded in the early 19th century, and a version close to the modern one was widely reported among American children by 1888. Its exact origin is unknown.
Does eenie meenie come from the Celts or the druids?
There is no evidence for that. Some folklorists noted that its sounds resemble old British counting words such as yan, tan, tethera, but that is a theory, not a documented origin.
Why is eenie meenie controversial?
Older American and British versions used a racial slur in the second line. The modern rhyme uses tiger instead, which became the usual version in the mid-20th century.
Is eenie meenie miney mo random?
No. With a fixed number of words and a known starting point, the result is decided before you begin, and the person counting can steer it. A random picker is fairer.